Light at The End
by FizzBitch
Summary: A small puppy left behind in New Mombassa trying to find her family and finds an ODST. (Possible 2nd chapter)


She was living happily with her family, spending days waiting for the kids to come home from school, then playing with them in the yard. At night she would lay at the foot of their bed. They gave her lots of food, sneak her some treats every once in a while and gave her lots of attention. Then one day, they just disappeared.

She couldn't help but wonder what she did wrong.

Maybe she did something bad? Was she not happy enough when they came home previous times? She thought she was pretty smart with all of her tricks but maybe she didn't learn them fast enough? For a full week she sat in that house waiting for them to come home, waiting for those kids to walk through that front door where they would then open the pantry and get out some treats to give her. Hell, the small dog would even take punishment for getting into the trash while they where gone if she could just see them again. But they never came.

It was after that week that the screams started. The malicious laughter, the smell of burnt flesh and blood that she could smell even through the walls. Looking through the windows she could see monsters that looked like the apes in the animal books the kids had, but uglier, some looked like giant featherless birds and some where short and stubby with masks.. The apes took great joy in slaughtering the neighbors as they made attempts to run away. Some dragged along the street before meeting a sickening end.

After what felt like an eternity armored men and women that she recognized as soldiers came to fight them. Bullets and grenades shot everywhere. The living room window shattered in the conflict, the puppy hid in a closet that had been left open, closed her eyes and tried to will the danger away, wondering if her family was okay. After a few hours it was silent. The dog cautiously came out; she didn't smell or hear any of the monsters. Hopping up of the couch she looked out of the shattered window, she didn't see anything but bodies. She had to find her family; maybe they were hurt and needed her. Looking back at the house she had spent the last 2 months in, she took a few seconds to reminisce on the memories.

Readying herself, she leapt down from the window and into the garden. She jumped trough the bushes and bolted down the street with a mission. It was like games of hide and seek she would play with the kids; she just had to hide from the monsters.

Which brought her to here, a ragged coat and scrounging for leftovers in trashcans and alleyways.

Her family would scold her if they could see her now, she knew better than to go through the garbage but for a dog who hasn't eaten in days and someone's thrown away most of some perfectly good dinner, it was hard. It was also exhausting trying to get into the trash in the first place. Feeling

run down after searching for her family, trying to find food, and the rain that started to sprinkle down she decided to call it a day, Turning into an alley a bit further down the street she found a place between some boxes and a dumpster, plopped down and sighed.

She hated being alone.

There are different kinds of silence. A peaceful silence you feel with family, friends, and lovers. A tense silence you feel after an argument. Understanding, remorseful, and respectful.

None of these greeted the dog when she opened her eyes.

The rain had picked up while she slept then faded, leaving behind an occasional drip from the rainwater on buildings and silence that was wrong. The kind that wakes you in the night and makes even the bravest warriors afraid to move. That is what woke her.

She laid still just watching the other end of the alley for a few minutes before mustering up the strength to stand. Now she could hear it, the chattering of the monsters and the scuffling of their feet. She could smell the stench of them, luckily they where pretty far away and seemed to be just on a patrol. Her ears perked when she heard another scuffling, much closer this time though it didn't sound like the feet of the monsters. This one sounded like… Boots. Human boots.

Excitement flowed through her as her tail started wagging. She also worried; it was dangerous here, didn't the human know about the monsters? The only humans she'd seen previously where dead, dead for a while, and alive for a few minutes before being killed. Trotting over the end of the alley she poked her head out to see an armored human, an ODST if she remembered right, crouched behind a pillar.

She stepped out a few feet to get a better look, stepping on some rubble. The Human froze and spun around, pointing his weapon at the puppy. They sat staring at each other for a few seconds; she tilted her head as the human started waving his hand. What on earth was this man doing? He was going to be seen, she started whining and he started waving more vigorously. After a minute he started jerking in her direction, making soft grunting noise. She could smell him getting angry for some reason, curious; she stepped forward a little more letting loose a small yip to warn him.

He snapped.

The man grabbed a piece of rubble and chucked it in her direction, shattering the window on the store behind her. Scarring her, she ducked back into the alley and hid behind the dumpster. If his waving didn't attract the monsters attention then his outburst sure as hell did. She heard the monsters yelling and weapons firing as she feared for the human, who stayed behind instead of fleeing,

It took a few minutes but she heard the pain filled cries of the monsters and the shuffling of boots. She slowly came back out of the alley, looking around the corner back to where the man was. He was sitting at the foot of the pillar; the anger was gone but replaced with frustration, some sadness, regret, and defeat.

And Loneliness.

While she was a bit offended that her kindness in trying to warn him about the monsters had been rewarded by him throwing stuff at her, it was that loneliness and defeat that made her pause. After contemplating, she realized that maybe it was possible that the human thought he was doing the same for her? Trying to warn her. If that was the case why didn't he just tell her to go away like the others?

Usually she would see humans in groups, maybe he had lost his and that was the reason for his loneliness and sadness? Was he on a mission like her? She felt a bit guilty now. She flattened her ears, and walked a few steps up to him. Getting closer she could smell some salt. Tears. She was familiar with that scent. The man didn't move so she walked to his side and sniffed the hand that was resting on the ground.

Still no movement, but the feelings she sensed from him seemed to amplify as she hopped into his lap, put her front paws on his chest, looked into his helmet, and cocked her head. All the emotions had reached their peak.

She stiffened as she was suddenly enveloped in his arms. If she could tell by the smell of tears and the shaking shoulders he was crying. She relaxed, whatever events led up to this human clutching her and having a breakdown must have been terrible and stressful. Aside from the drowning emotions it felt nice. She hadn't been hugged for weeks. Her family, she thought. She still needed to find them. She felt a bit bad that she had forgot about them for the last few minutes.

But.

They had been away for a while. They most likely escaped the monsters and where safe, she just needed to catch up to them. This human was here, right now and probably needed her at the moment judging by his reactions. He was in pain. Not the type that would disappear with a small lick. No. This was the type of pain she had felt trapped in the house alone, but a bit more intense. This was something that nobody should have to go through, nor should they deal with alone.

She could feel it from the human; both of them had been separated from their families, lost alone. She hated that feeling, and didn't want anyone else to feel that way either. She breathed deeply and let the man hug her tighter. She still needed to find her family but just for now, if putting her search on pause and stay for a while to help another not feel so hurt, then that's what she'll do.

Hopefully, she could help him find some strength to carry on for a while and find the light at the end.

An hour had passed and the tears had died down some time ago. The human sat, stroking her fur and giving her ears a scratch every once in a while. He was doing better. She could tell he was a bit relaxed, still lonely, and still lost, but he would be okay. Her ears perked up, as did her head.

Their time together for now was over

She scrambled out of his arms and off of his lap. He didn't want her to go she thought as she looked at his outreached hand. The dog turned and gave his hand a quick lick. She would be okay, she lasted this long, trotting back down to the alley she gave him one last look, just to let him now she would be fine. He didn't need to worry.

They both had people they needed to find, she wished him luck, turned and bolted through the alley to the next street. They would meet again one day the pup thought.

It had been a few days since she saw the human. Mostly it was only monsters that she came across since then. She had finally made it to the outskirts of town, and looked over all the grass and wind that blew over the landscape.

It was a little disheartening that her family was still not found. No food had been found since she was too weak to tip over the trashcans. Still, she would keep going, for them. Filled with determination she put on paw forward, filling her mind with thoughts of her family.

She never noticed the shadow….

 ****

 **Yoooooo, guess whose actually still alive? I actually wrote a somewhat decent story. I decided to write fanfiction for my last project in the English class so i surprisingly churned something out. I was going to make the dog genderless so you guys can imagine any dog you want (you still can i guess) but i got tired of writing "The dog" "The puppy" ect so i gave it a gender. If you are wondering, yes the dog was abandoned by her owners a while before the covenant invasion of New Mombassa. This story is a lot different than the rough draft/plot i made. It was going to have rookies P.O.V but for time sake i cut it. Also i could make him throwing the rubble from his P.O.V without him seeming like an asshole. The dogs behavior is based a bit on my dogs behavior.**

 **If i get enough reviews maybe i'll add another chapter form rookies P.O.V about after when this story takes place.**

 **-FizzBitch**


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